Spent a lazy Sunday beatin' round the snowy bush checking out the ice on my local lakes...
Could've taken the sled out but the heavy chevy is fun in the deep stuff too. Probably the last time she'll be pokin' around the backwoods till the spring.
Took the axe and hiked into a couple small trout potholes. Most of these lakes are heavily spring-fed meaning lots of unsafe ice which will likely remain unsafe for quite a while. Don't assume because your favourite trout lake is small it will freeze quicky.
On the way home I squeezed in an hour before dark on a shallower stream-fed splake lake. Found 3.5-4 good inches close to shore, but all this early snow has messed up things up with lots of soft spots, but the girlfriend put a nice trout on the ice right before dark in 4 FOW.
I think i'll stick with the sled for the next week or two. Dont come up north expecting good ice everywhere.